Asign in the window of J's Pots of Soul in Hayes Valley makes a futile attempt at predicting the future: "J's will remain open in spite of construction, unless it becomes impossible."

The restaurant's owner, Laura Tom, said there's no telling how the widening of Octavia Street and the tearing down of the Fell Street freeway ramp will affect the neighborhood. But she tries not to think about it.

"I don't worry, because worry just gives you a heart attack and stress," she said, referring to the construction crews who began tearing down the ramp on Saturday.

Merchants in Hayes Valley -- who have kept the neighborhood free of big corporate chains in favor of independently owned businesses -- say they look forward to the day when the ramp comes down and sheds a little more sunlight on the area.

Octavia Street, over which the ramp now hovers, will be widened into four lanes of two-way traffic between Market and Fell streets, divided by a strip of trees in the median. Access roads designed for local traffic will run along each side of the main road.

The project is scheduled to be finished in 2006. But merchants wonder what will happen to the neighborhood between now and then, especially when the country is at war and businesses have already seen a dramatic drop in sales because of the economic downturn.

"In the future, it's going to be better," said Sergio Fregerio, who owns Il Borgo Ristorante on the corner of Fell and Laguna streets, where the freeway previously dumped its traffic. "But in these next two years, I don't know -- maybe I will go out of business."

Part of that area will be reserved for 700 to 800 housing units, half of which will be designated as affordable housing. The rest of the land will be available for retail space.

Falvey said proceeds from the sale of the parcels will pay for the $40 million in improvements to Octavia Street.

Some businesses worry that construction might keep customers away because of all the noise and dust. But Falvey said that no businesses will be closed during construction, which will be done in phases. The city also will make sure that sidewalks remain accessible, and that customers know that businesses are still open by posting signs if necessary.

Since 1990, a year after the Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the freeway and left merchants and residents in Hayes Valley to ponder what to do with the Fell Street ramp, three ballot measures have shaped the changes that are happening today.

In 1998, after several meetings between the neighborhood and the city, voters passed Proposition E, which called for the demolition of the ramp and the broadening of Octavia Street.

said he voted for Prop. E to close the gap between businesses that the freeway had created.

"We'll be a unified neighborhood once again," he said.

He called the space under the freeway "a dead zone" for legitimate businesses and a haven for drug dealers and prostitutes.

"When the freeway is gone, so are they," he said.

Pritchard still has concerns about big chain stores making their way into the neighborhood once Octavia Street is widened. He is working with Supervisor Matt Gonzalez's office to keep them out and preserve the mom-and-pop stores that have been in Hayes Valley for years.

Terry Chastain, owner of Tinhorn Press Gallery and Momi Toby's Revolution Cafe on Laguna Street, has been in Hayes Valley for 10 years and said he will be glad to see the freeway finally disappear. The new traffic on Octavia Street could pump new energy into the neighborhood.

But 2006 is a long way away.

"A lot can happen between (now and) then," Chastain said.

Pritchard remains optimistic.

"We're dealing with an extreme slump in the economy and the war," he said. "If we can deal with that, we can deal with construction."

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